Training a feral, has anyone had any sucess?

[ClarkL]

We used to foster cats on a regular basis, now we're in rented our landlady is pretty forgiving with us having 4 cats but not sure how she'd take to be fostering again so I've quite a bit of experience with cats, just not ferals!
However we have had a small feral come visit us, I'm guessing from one of the farms but he is in really poor condition, terribly skinny, tail was broken at some point as it is bent at a 90 degree angle near the end.
Every morning and evening he sits staring into our conservatory. I take a bowl of food out, he runs away but immediately comes back for the food, now he'll come within about a metre but hiss the whole time until I've put his food down.
Today for the first time ever he's visited during the day, its absolutely chucking it down, so I shut all our cats out, opened the conservatory and popped some food inside to tempt him in, he did come and eat it, had a small sniff round but heard a noise and scarpered. I then heard him crying outside.
I cannot get close enough to catch him, i'm pretty certain if I did he'd be massively stressed but I think its worth stressing him once to get a vet look after him. After that, then what? We release him, continue to feed him...will he ever come round to humans? If I take him to the vets could he get so stressed he wont ever come back?
He has been named Scott of the Antarctica - he is a brave and wild explorer. Tell me how to help him best

That is good news. Maybe a strange freaked him out a bit.

It sounds as if it's you he likes and is happy with. (Not coming round until you returned despite the food being put out for him.)

You can't always tell their complete history. Maybe he's had some experience of humans in his past?

Cozie that is a horrible thought, I hope he's never been mistreated. You just never know :(

Our eldest bengal was a rescue and had spent his first 5 years locked in a shed with his 2 sisters. He has totally attached himself to my husband and is ridiculously naughty for me, if my husband is away for longer than usual he howls and sprays until he returns to him and I'm convinced its because of his horrible start in life.

I 'trained' a feral cat, poor thing had kittens under my shed, must have only been six months old and she was skin and bone.

Got a rescue involved who took all the kittens eventually but I just fed her and gradually moved her food into the house. She ruled my dog and two other cats with a rod of iron - Small was her name because she was after her poor start.

I even took her with us when we moved overseas. She died young though, well, 13 rather than the almost 20 all my other cats have lived to.

She was lovely, tolerant, long haired, I cut the matted bits out of her fur at the beginning but did groom them later on.

Could still have a go at you even as an old lady if she decided that she had had too much tummy scratching.

She was lovely though, definitely added something to my home!